Brother's Keeper
by Dixie Darlin
Summary: Through all things good or bad, in any timeline they might be in, the skeleton brothers Sans and Papyrus will always have each other's back(bones).
1. Who Your Real Friends Are

**Summary:** _Sans discovers that not everyone else thinks that Papyrus is the greatest person ever._

 **Timeline:** _Post True Pacifist ending_

* * *

 ** _Brother's Keeper_**

 _Who Your Real Friends Are_

The sun was starting to set, casting an array of shadows over the parking lot Papyrus's car was occupying. The owner slurped the remains of his milkshake he had received from a nearby food truck, humming to himself as he surveyed the passersby. Sans didn't bother to remove the sunshades from his eyes despite the shrinking sunlight, continuing to flip lazily through a comic book he'd found discarded in a trash bin. His feet were propped up on the dash in front of the passenger seat, mostly because it was simply his nature to do so but also because it was fun to make his brother scream at him to put his feet back down.

He didn't even flinch when Papyrus suddenly and enthusiastically stood up from his driver's seat. "Oooh, look, Sans!" He extended his pointer out ahead of the car and leaned out over the top of the windshield like a large dog might have done. "A whole group of humans just begging to be friends with The Great Papryus! And they look so _cool_!"

"I don't see how that's possible in this heat."

"Oh my _God,_ Sans, you know what I mean! Now watch as your amazing brother wows these humans with my own coolness!" Papyrus bragged with a flip of his red scarf, which he still wore regardless of the fact it was summertime above ground. "Maybe they will even appreciate my spaghetti!"

"Go for it," Sans told him with an encouraging thumbs-up, taking a brief moment to look up from his comic and grin at him.

"I will! And get your feet off my dash, you're leaving dirty little marks all over it!"

Sans chuckled and took his feet out of his shoes, but left the shoes on the dashboard.

" _Sans_!"

"What? You said take my feet off, not my shoes."

"You knew what I meant!" Papyrus fussed at him, stomping his own foot down. "When I come back here after making friends with those cool humans, you better have those shoes off of there! And not have anything else up there either!"

* * *

Night had fallen, the moon out and stars twinkling overhead. Sans couldn't see them because, one, the street light that Papyrus's car was parked under wasn't exactly ideal for star viewing and, two, he was asleep anyway. He lay sprawled out in the passenger seat, his comic half opened across his chest. His feet were still kicked up on the dash despite what his brother had said to him earlier. Sans snorted awake suddenly, wiping the drool from his face before stretching his arms up. He glanced at his wristwatch and saw that it had been several hours since Papyrus had disappeared on his mission to befriend the humans he had seen.

Something was wrong.

Sans crawled over the top of the door and dropped down, never having bothered with the task of opening and closing it instead. He picked up on the sounds of laughter not too far away and decided that was as good as start as any to begin his hunt.

The sounds led him to a nearby junkyard, which instantly made him think of Undyne and Alphys. He briefly thought that perhaps he and Papyrus should give them a call soon.

Speaking of Papyrus, Sans finally spotted him. He shook his head at himself for having been so worried. His brother was doing his usual bout of showing off and performing "amazing" acts for the group of what looked like teenagers he had found. At the moment, Papyrus was attempting a cartwheel, only for his tibia to go flying off. The group erupted into laughter, as if they were watching a highly rated comedy skit.

"Do it again!" a girl called out between bouts of giggles.

"Anything for my new friends!" the caped skeleton decreed as he fetched his leg back, popping it into place before preparing to perform the stunt again.

Sans grinned in amusement at how ridiculous his brother could be when he wanted attention. However, the closer he approached, the more his smile faded. Sans might have been lazy, but he wasn't stupid. He knew the difference between people laughing with him as opposed to being laughed at. And these people were definitely laughing _at_ Papyrus, as if he were the biggest joke they'd ever seen.

"That's even better than when we had him juggling his own feet!" he heard someone say.

"That's _great_ , Papyrus, really, the _greatest_ we've ever seen!"

Suddenly, Sans didn't feel so good. Maybe he should listen to his gut instincts more.

"Sans!" Papyrus's voice followed by a (almost literally) bone-crunching hug snapped Sans out of his thoughts. "There you are, lazy bones! It's about time you came over here to meet all my new friends! And get this...they think I'm funny! Isn't that great? They must _really_ like me!"

Any other time, Papyrus being so downright gleeful would have filled Sans with joy. He loved seeing his brother happy. Heck, he even set aside his former bigotry towards humans to see Papyrus get more excited than Lesser Dog getting petted by some multi-armed creature for hours on end. (Appeasing a lady friend may have also had something to do with it but don't go spreading that around.)

Seeing Papyrus so happy and rattling off about how "great" his new "friends" were only served to make Sans feel more conflicted than he ever had before. He couldn't very well tell Papyrus to his face that these humans were only keeping him around as a court jester to laugh at. He also couldn't let his brother continue hanging out with people who didn't truly care about him.

Sans gave his brother a smile. "That's great, it really is, bro. Hey, why don't you go get some of that spaghetti you cooked earlier and bring it here? We can all have a party to celebrate."

An audible gasp of delight accompanied by an ever wider grin from Papyrus (if that was even possible) was the direct answer Sans received. "That's a great idea! I can't believe I didn't think of it! I'll go do that right now!" He turned to wave at the group of teenagers who were still poorly hiding their laughter. "I'll be right back, friends! The Great Papyrus has to go get his award-winning pasta to share with you!"

He practically galloped away, leaving Sans alone in the junkyard with the humans. Sans stood there silently, waiting until he couldn't see his brother anymore. The laughter only grew louder in this time, Sans slowly turning his head to face the group, his fists clenched inside his jacket pockets.

"Oh man, can you believe that loser?" one young man said as he wiped a tear from his eye.

"He really thinks he's cool enough to hang with the likes of us!"

"Guess we'll just keep around for a good laugh. Poor sap doesn't even have enough brains to know any different!"

Sans walked closer to them, standing before them silent as a grave. He kept his head down, composing himself as he listened to the hateful things they were saying.

"Hey, look, there's another skeleton guy!" So they finally noticed him. "Hey, you with that Papyrus guy or whatever?"

"You have a 'great' nickname too?"

"You do funny tricks like he does?"

Sans smirked at the ground, chuckling deeply. "Yeah, I know a few tricks." He raised his head up, his left eyesocket glowing a bright blue color. **"This one's a real scream**."

His arm raised up, his hand in a clawed formation, and the teens cried out in shock as they levitated off the pile of junk they were sitting on. Sans let his hand go flying out to the right of him, the humans fearfully screaming as they tried to hang on to each other for dear life as they were tossed around in various directions.

Sans basked in the sounds of their begging for mercy for about a good ten minutes. All things considered, he went easier on them than he could have, but they weren't worth the effort. He released his grip on the humans, all of them crashing down into a nearby cess pool near the fence. For a split second, he considered throwing them against the cold, hard ground, but he decided he only wanted to scare them, not kill them.

Besides, Papyrus would hate him if he came back to all his new "friends" dead before Sans could bury them all.

 _"Ah, who am I kidding? I'm too lazy to dig graves,"_ Sans thought with a chuckle as the now cess-covered humans ran off screaming and running over each other trying to race each other to the back of the junkyard.

He patted his hands together as if to dust them off, sticking them back in his pockets and turning around just in time to see Papyrus running up to him. The taller skeleton was panting as if he had been running hard, one hand holding a plastic container with spaghetti. "The Great Papyrus is back!" he tiredly announced himself, using his other hand to prop up on his knee as he caught his breath.

"Please tell me you didn't run the entire way to the apartment."

"Of course I did, how else was I going to get there!" Papyrus huffed at him as he straightened his spine, the vertebrae cracking as he did so.

"By...driving?" Sans suggested with a confused shrug.

"And give up that really great parking spot? No way!"

"It's a couple hours short of midnight, I don't think anyone would have-"

"Hey!" Papyrus shouted in a disappointed tone as he surveyed the junkyard. "What happened to all my friends! Didn't you tell them about the spaghetti party?" he asked, looking like a sad puppy.

"Yeah, sorry, they had to run." It _wasn't_ a lie.

All the energy looked like it got sucked right out of Papyrus, looking at the ground and scuffing his shoe against the dirt. "Oh...I see..."

Sans felt awful. "Hey, it's cool," he said, nudging his brother with an elbow to try to cheer him up. "I know, how's about you and me call up Undyne and Alphys? I bet they'd love a spaghetti party."

"I guess so...I really wanted some new friends though."

"I know you did. Maybe it just wasn't meant to be with those guys. And _maybe_ you'll remember bring spaghetti with you next time you meet people. It'll be _im-pasta-ble_ to not be friends with you," he winked.

Papyrus normally would've acted annoyed with one of his brother's puns, but he let out a little chuckle. "Thanks, Sans, I feel better now!" He gave him a one-armed hug as tight as he could without dropping his container. "You're the best brother ever!"

"You are too," Sans said in a strained voice. Even one-armed hugs by Papyrus were enough to feel like your life was getting squeezed out of you. He didn't mind though. "I love you, Papyrus," he said quietly as he hugged him back.

Papyrus was a little taken aback at his brother being so suddenly affectionate, but he wasn't going to complain about it. "I love you too, Sans," he said back, not sure what brought this on. Maybe he should spend more quality time with Sans instead of chasing after strangers to hang out with.

"Please tell me we're not going to walk back home just so you can keep your parking spot." Sans said after pulling out of the hug.

Papyrus rubbed his chin. "Hmm...well I _suppose_ I can drive us home. Only because I'm still kinda tired from running earlier. Don't tell anyone that. And because I don't want to spend all night yelling at you to hurry up. _"_

"That's thoughtful of you."

"It is, isn't it!" Papyrus beamed. "And just this one time, I'll even let you put your feet up on the dash if you want."

Sans chuckled. "Thanks, bro."

They started back towards the car, Papyrus speaking up again. "Hey, Sans?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for being my brother," he grinned down at Sans. "I'd really miss you if you weren't always hanging out with me. Since you're my best friend too."

Sans gave him a big grin back. "Ditto for me. You know I always got your back _bone,"_ he winked.

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that."


	2. The Reasons Why

**Summary:** _Papyrus is feeling less than great one day after a "noodle incident", and it's up to none other than his favorite (and only) brother to cheer him up._

 **Timeline** : _Post True Pacifist ending_

* * *

 _The Reasons Why_

Sans entered the apartment that he and his brother had moved into upon settling on the Surface. All the lights were out, meaning Papyrus had gone behind Sans at some point that day and flipped all the switches off like the responsible, energy-saving skeleton that he was. Sans could never be bothered with it, always leaving them on. Even while he was sleeping.

Taking the darkened apartment as a tip that his brother wasn't home (the fact that he didn't come bounding up to Sans as soon as he walked in was another tip), Sans didn't bother calling out for him. The couch was looking more than comfy, the perfect spot for an afternoon post-dinner-nap. The Surface didn't have a Grillby's yet (it was 'Coming Soon!' according to the construction signs though), but there were alternatives around. So long as they had ketchup, Sans didn't really care.

Sans unceremoniously flopped onto the couch, sinking into the pillows. He sighed, his consciousness beginning to slip away within seconds.

The process halted when he caught the sound of...sniffling?

The skeleton laid prone on the couch for a moment longer in silence. Yep, definitely sniffling. His brotherly instincts kicked in, forcing him to drag his body off of his napping spot. Papyrus being in any sort of distress, no matter how mundane it might end up being, was the one and only cure for Sans's chronic laziness.

Sans approached his brother's room, the only source of light being that which trickled out from underneath his door. The light crying that Sans heard only added more cause for concern. However, he tried not to let his mind wander into "worst case scenario" territory. Papyrus was the sort that would cry over spilled milk, literally.

He rapped his knuckles against the door. Surprisingly, Papyrus didn't rush to answer the door to greet him with a much-needed hug. This must have been a higher level of emotional anguish than Sans was expecting. Sans jiggled the handle and, upon finding that it wasn't locked, began to slowly inch the door open.

He frowned at seeing his brother's back turned to him, sitting on the edge of his racecar bed (he had refused to leave the Underground without it) and leaning over despondently. Papyrus wiped a gloved hand over his eyes, sniffing a bit more.

"Hey, hey, what's wrong?" Sans asked him gently as he went to go sit beside him on the bed. "You need a 'Pap' talk?"

"Saaaaans," Papyrus whined at him, but not with his usual amount of irritation behind it. "That isn't helping..."

Not overly reacting to horrible puns was another sign that this was a more serious case. "Sorry, not tryin' to make light. C'mon, talk to me. What's the matter?" He clenched his fists protectively as he scanned his eyes over his brother, checking for injuries. "Did someone hurt you?"

"N-no..." Papyrus hung his head down, tears dripping on his knees.

Sans was relieved that at least he was _physically_ all right. "You'll feel better if you talk it out."

"Well...okay," the taller skeleton sighed. "Frisk had asked me to come to the school for a bake sale this morning. So I brought my spaghetti."

"Oh yeah, the bake sale..." Sans muttered, having completely forgotten about it.

"And this man comes up and he buys a plate of my spaghetti. It made me so happy that someone appreciated my hard work. So he leaves and then comes back and says he wants to invite me onto his television show."

Sans tilted his head. "Television show?"

"Yes. The Great Papyrus was very much delighted at the idea of being a star, sharing noodles with the entire world." He picked his pillow up to hug it gently against his stomach. "I was gonna be popular and have people beg me to hang out with them. And eat spaghetti with me. And shower me with kisses." He looked like he wanted to cry again, his voice cracking a few times.

"Just tell me what happened next," Sans said to get him to keep his concentration. He rubbed Papyrus gently on the back. "What happened after you talked to this guy?"

Papyrus wiped his face again. "We went to this big huge building. They had all these cameras and big lights and everything. I was so excited. And then I saw the name of the show... _Worst Cooks Ever._ "

Sans flinched, shutting his eyes. _Oh God no._

"I thought...Wowie, they loved the Great Papyrus's cooking so much that they asked me to help all these poor people!" Papyrus tried to recreate his former enthusiasm, but he didn't quite hit the mark. "So there I am, thanking everyone for this opportunity and...that's when they said that..." He started sniffling again. "They didn't want me to teach, they wanted me to be a contestant be-because that was the w-worst spaghetti they...they..."

Papyrus hugged his pillow against his face and started sobbing, letting all his sadness out. Sans felt helpless, not knowing how he could fix this. He pulled his legs up onto the bed to kneel on the mattress, hugging Papyrus around his neck and resting his own head atop of his brother's. He couldn't help blaming himself for not being there when all this was happening, or else he could have prevented this.

"None of my dreams ever come true!" Papyrus's cried in a muffled tone against his pillow. "I never got to be a Royal Guard, and now I'll never be a Master Chef! _Nyoo hoo hoo_ , the Great Papyrus isn't great at all!"

Sans petted the top of Papyrus's skull with his fingers, trying to soothe him. "Don't give up, Pap, you just...need to practice more. The Underground didn't get built in a day, y'know," he said, trying to be optimistic for his brother's sake.

"Oh why bother? You never eat my cooking anyway. I thought you were just always being nice to me and letting me have it all, but I guess that wasn't true..."

Sans was definitely not expecting this conversation to turn around on him. "Pap, c'mon, don't be like that. I-it's not that bad, that guy's just desperate for people to be on his dumb show."

"You don't have to lie," Papyrus said quietly. "I'm just stupid for thinking I was good at something. I'm sorry I'm not the cool brother you deserve.""

Sans visibly winced when he heard such things come out of his brother's mouth. He released Papyrus from his hug, sliding off the bed so he could stand in front of him. With both hands, he pried Papyrus's teary face from his pillow, forcing him to look at him as he held his skull between his hands.

"Hey, you listen to me," Sans told him in a firm yet caring voice. "I wouldn't trade you for the world. You're the coolest brother anyone could ask for. And even if you weren't, I'd love you anyway. So what if you're not a Royal Guard or a great chef or anything else with a prestigious title? I don't care about any of that stuff. All I care about is _you._ Just you being yourself. _"_

The tiniest crack of a smile began to show on Papyrus's face, his eyes welling up with tears of the happy sort.

"You always look to the bright side of things. You know how to make people feel good about themselves when they're down. You make life seem like it's worth living," Sans kept on, getting teary-eyed himself. "You care about everyone you meet, no matter who they are. And if all that means that you're not a cool, great brother and friend, then I don't know what does."

Papyrus let out a little happy noise despite still crying, grabbing Sans and crushing him against him in a tight hug. Sans felt his ribs compress almost painfully from the sudden gesture, but he didn't care. He wrapped his arms around his brother's shoulders, resting his face against the cushion of Papyrus's scarf. Forget the couch, the best place for napping was right there where he was.

"Thank you, Brother, I love you," Papyrus whimpered slightly.

"You're welcome, bro, and love you too," Sans smiled, never wanting to let go.

"Sans, do...do you know why I cook all the time?" Papyrus asked shyly. "Or try to rather..."

Sans tried really hard to not make a joke at a time like this. "Because there's endless _pastabilities_?" He failed.

"Saaaaaans," Papyrus whined in frustration, making Sans chuckle. "You're ruining the moment."

"You mean 'broment'? Sorry, I'll stop."

"No, I kinda liked that one."

"Wow, really?" Sans beamed. _Victory is mine!_ "Anyway, why _do_ you like cooking so much?"

"Well...don't laugh...I kinda do it for _you_."

Sans blinked at the response. Somehow he didn't expect that. "For... _me_?" he asked, pulling out of the hug to look at his brother's sincere face.

"It's just that...well..." Papyrus kept his hands gripped on Sans's jacket as if it were a security blanket. "I thought if I learned how cook, then you'd...stay home more. And not eat junk like Grillby's. Not that it's worked so far..."

It was both touching and guilt-inducing at the same time. All those times he'd said "no thanks, not hungry, you have it instead" when offered a plate, or the times he'd appease him by taking one bite, waited until he turned around, and then just hid it under his ribcage until he found the nearest trash can. Or a Snowdin dog begging for scraps, whichever came first. All the while, Papyrus is selflessly throwing his heart into it just because he wanted his brother to stick around more.

 _Wow, I really suck balls at this brother stuff. Meat-balls, even._

"Pap, you...you know you don't have to do anything special just to get me to spend time with you, right? I'm not really worth all that trouble," he tried to say as nonchalantly as possible.

"Of course you are!" Sans found himself getting crushed in another hug. "Nobody is more deserving of the affections of the Great Papyrus than Brother Sans! Because even if you do plague my life with bad jokes and trombone music, you're the whole reason I am who I am! You're the inspiration behind everything I do!"

"Aww, Pap...you're gonna make me cry again," Sans chuckled, wiping his face on Papyrus's scarf.

"Tears of immense joy, I hope!"

"Of course," Sans said as his eyes started drooping shut. "You can cook me whatever you want when I wake up and I'll eat it, how's that?" All this emotional talk had made him even more tired. He couldn't help letting a yawn out.

"Are you seriously going to sleep right now?"

"Yep." He was out like a light, still in a hugging pose.

"Sans? This is kind of awkward." Papyrus heard his clock ticking away on his nightstand. "I can't just sit here and wait for you to wake up. Sans? Sans, I can't believe you fell asleep during our broment. Hello?"


End file.
